This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7xc2xa7119 and/or 365 to 97 119 069.9 filed in Europe on Oct. 31, 1997; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a processor controlled measuring device, especially for the detection of photometric parameters, particularly a densitometer, spectrophotometer, or colour meter.
2. Background of the Invention
Today, spectrophotometers, densitometers, and colour meters having a measuring unit, a control arrangement and an input/output unit are typically connected for data exchange with an external processor by way of a manufacturer-specific protocol and an interface (typically RS232c or IEEE 488). Colour data (Lab, LCH, Luv, XYZ . . . ) are thereby often calculated in the meter from the raw spectral/densitometrical data and then transmitted to the connected processor by way of one of the mentioned manufacturer-specific data transfer protocols.
Devices are today also available which are adapted for the offline detection of colour data. These measuring devices are connected to an external processor after offline detection and storage of the data and the detected and stored data are then transferred to the external processor by way of the manufacturer-specific data transfer protocol.
Known representative meters of this type are, for example, the hand-held spectrophotometers of the series SPM (z.B. SPM 100) of the applicant. Those and similar meters are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,646, and 5,267,178 and European Application 0 698 785 (corresponds to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/517,678 of Aug. 22, 1995), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The user interface of those meters is quite often only a relatively small display. The analyses are visualized on this display for the user or the user can make the necessary adjustments at the meter.
This manner of connecting meters with external processors which is common today is associated with different disadvantages. The data-transfer protocol must be newly programmed for each meter type, manufacturer and operating system (Windows, Unix, Mac-OS). This is associated with significant cost for the software manufacturer which writes user software for these meters.
The possible analyses of the measured data by way of the firmware available in the meter are thereby predetermined by the manufacturer and not expandable. It is not possible to load into the meter additional data analysis software modules written by other manufacturers to carry out a preprocessing or preanalysis of the data already in the meter.
The visualization of the data is only possible on the small internal display or with the help of a specially written analysis program on a connected external processor.
The data are not available in a standardized file format, although, today, data formats for the exchange of colour data are standardized by different standards organizations. These data formats cannot be produced directly by the meter. A data transfer through the manufacturer-dependent data exchange protocol to an external processor is always first required, which processor then stores the data in the respective format in a data file.
It is relatively difficult to adjust by way of the display provided at the device the parameters available at the meter, since the display often has only a low resolution and normally does not support colours.
The actual data are only accessible through a processor (the one connected with the meter through the interface). In order to make the data also available to other processors, which are, for example, connected to a network, the corresponding data must first be read by the processor which is connected with the meter using the manufacturer-dependent data exchange protocol and then transmitted in suitable form to the other processors.
Based on this prior art, it is now an object of the present invention to improve a measuring device of the generic type in such a way that data exchange with an external processor or with a network is possible without a manufacturer-specific data exchange protocol.
This and other objects of the invention which will become more apparent from the discussion hereinbelow is achieved in a processor controlled measuring device including a measuring unit for detecting the parameters to be measured and converting them into corresponding electrical signals; a control arrangement cooperating with the measuring unit for controlling the measuring unit and processing the electrical signals produced thereby, the control arrangement including a processor on which a control program runs which implements the functionalities of the measuring device; an input/output unit cooperating with the control arrangement for the manual operation of the measuring device and for the display of measurement results and user guiding information; and, interface means which cooperate with the processor for communication of the processor with an external processor, whereby measured data produced by the measuring device can be called up from the measuring device and control data controlling the processor can be transmitted to the processor; a file system connected with the processor wherein the measured and/or control data can be stored in the form of files of defined format; and means for making the file system available to a network, whereby the communication between the processor and an external processor connected to the network takes place by way of the files stored in the file system.